Talk about bait and switch! In the same way that products bearing impressive Energy Star ratings may use far more energy than advertised, goods at the supermarket aren’t always what they seem. What it says on the label might be an outright lie, and there’s little oversight to verify that what’s described on the package is actually what’s inside.
As a result, countless consumers and restaurants that thought they were purchasing first-rate red snapper, flounder, and grouper were actually buying cheap-o Vietnamese catfish. We’re not just talking about fish fraud. The pricey “pinot noir” you see displayed in the wine store may in fact be a mediocre merlot, and “Chesapeake blue crabs” may be second-rate imports plucked far from the Atlantic. As the Washington Post reports:
“Food fraud” has been documented in fruit juice, olive oil, spices, vinegar, wine, spirits and maple syrup, and appears to pose a significant problem in the seafood industry. Victims range from the shopper at the local supermarket to multimillion companies, including E&J Gallo and Heinz USA…
John Spink, an expert on food and packaging fraud at Michigan State University, estimates that 5 to 7 percent of the U.S. food supply is affected but acknowledges the number could be greater. “We know what we seized at the border, but we have no idea what we didn’t seize,” he said.
And unfortunately, consumers sometimes have no idea what they’re buying at the supermarket.